Packaging machine



W. A. JOPLIN PACKAGING MACHINE Filed July 24, 1940 5 6 Wilma "(MENTOR -fmJn @Mdww ATTOR EY i les. i,

PACKAGING MACHINE William A. Joplin, Wollaston, Mass assignor to Pneumatic Scale Corporation, Limited, Masa, a corporation oiMassacliusetta Qui cy.

Application July 24, 1940, Serial No. 347,172

. 4 Claims.

This invention'relatesto a packaging machine. The invention has for an object; to provide a novel and improved packaging machine provided with filling-mechanism arranged to release the material into a container disposed therebeneath and in which control mechanism is provided adapted to prevent release of the material in the event that there is no container present.

With this general object in view and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the packaging machine and in the various structures, arrangements and combinations of Parts hereinafter described and particularly defined. in the claims at the end oi this pecification. I

In thejdrawing illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a sufllcient portion of a packaging machine to enable the present invention to be understood; Fig. 2 is adetail view in perspective of the shutters for the filling device shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a plan view in cross-section of the filling hopper.

In general, the present invention contemplates a packaging machine having a carrier provided with a plurality of container supporting pockets adapted to be intermittently moved to present the containers into and from filling position. The illustrated packaging machine is preferably provided with a dual filling device adapted to fill two containers at a time while the latter are supported in said intermittently movable pockets, and in the operation of the machine, two containers, each held in its individual container supporting pocket. are moved into position to present them in alignment with a pair of movable funnels disposed'beneath the filling device, the latter being arranged to release its material into the funnels when the containers arrive into filling position. Prior to arriving at the filling station, the containers are individually withdrawn from a magazine in which they are stacked in their flat or collapsed condition and are opened up and inserted intotheir individual pockets. The containers are then moved to a bottom folding staare again in position over two empty containers readytobefilled.

In accordance with the present invention, provision is made for controlling the operation of the filling mechanisms to prevent release of the material therein in the event that there are no containers in the pockets, such as might occur through failure of the container withdrawing and opening means, or through depletion of the supply of containers. The present control mechanism includes individual detecting fingers for each container presented beneath the dual filling apparatus arranged to control individual pairs of shutters of the filling apparatus, so that the latter may operate to fill one container in the event that the container is absent from the companion pocket.

Referring now to the drawing, the present control mechanism is preferably illustrated as embodied in a packaging machine provided with an intermittently rotatable carrier disk I. upon which a plurality of container supporting pockets I! are mounted to be movable therewith. The

packaging machine is provided with mechanism,

tion where the bottom flaps of the container are closed in readiness to be filled.

In order to increase the filling time, the funnels are arrangedv to be moved along with the containers during one intermittent movement. whereupon the tunnels are moved back to their original position. During the retracting movement of the funnels, the carrier is advanced another intermittent movement so that the iunnels notshown, for withdrawing containers," from a stack in which they are stored in their collapsed condition, and provision is made for opening and transferring the containers into their individual pockets II. with their top and bottom fiaps extended. The bottom flaps are then closed, by suitable mechanism, not shown, preparatory to being presented to the filling mechanism, in-

dicated generally at ll. Thereafter, the containers are presented to subsequent stations where the top flaps of the container are closed and sealed to produce a filled andsealed package. Such mechanisms may comprise any of the known I devices used with packaging machines now upon the market, only a sui'iicient portion of such a machine being herein illustrated as to enable the present invention to be 'understood.'

The illustrated filling mechanism comprises a dual feeding hopper ll arranged to receive material from a supply thereof through feed conduits II, 12. The feeding hopper II is provided with a central partitioning wall It, as shown in Fig. 3, to form a dual feed hopper. and each compartment 21, 29, is provided with a pair of bottom shutters It,

termined amount .-of the material to be released. .into the compartmentsiof the feeding hopper,

2' arranged to be opened and closed in timed-relation to the movement of the such as by closing and opening the conduits: at predetermined interval in the operation of the machine. The conduit opening and closing mechanism herein illustrated, comprises a plurality of curved wires 28 mounted upon a crossbar 20 supported at either end upon similar rocker arms 22, 3| pivotally mounted in a supporting bracket 3!. The curved wires 28 extend through holes in a guide bar 28 and are arranged to be rocked into and from conduit opening and closin position through suitable cam operated mechanism. not shown, which may be operatively connected-to the arms 22, 24 by links 2!, 40. The curved wires 28 may be spaced relatively close together, depending upon the type of material being run, so as to cut of! the suppl of material when they are in their closed position. The wires are preferably used when running coarse, fragile materials, such as corn flakes, so as to reduce breakage of the material to a minimum, although, when running finely divided material, such as sugar, coifee and the like, a solid plate may be used to cut oil the supply of material.

In the operation of the device, the curved wire gates 20 are opened and closed at predetermined intervals in order to release a sufiicient amount of material into each compartment 21, 28 of the feeding hopper II to fill the containers I4 being moved into position therebeneath. Provision is made for opening the shutters 24, 28 to release the material thus accumulated and to permit the material to fall into a pair of funnels 42, M interposed between the 'feeding horpper and the containers and arranged to guide the material into the containers. As herein illustrated, the shutters 24, 26 are arranged to be opened through connections from a cam 45 mounted fast upon a cam shaft 46 which may form a part of the packaging machine. The shutters are mounted fast upon pins 48, III journaled in suitable bearings in the hopper, and as herein shown, are arranged to be operated in pairs, each pin being provided with an arm 82 or 54 fast thereon such arms being connected by links It, 58 to a common pivotal point 60 carried on the end of one arm 82 of each of similar three-armed levers pivotally mounted upon studs N carried in either end of the hopper top I. The second arms 81 of each of the three-armed levers are yieldingly connected by links 68 to lever III fast upon a rocker shaft I2 journaled in suitable bearings in the machine frame. An arm 14 fast upon the rocker shaft is connected by a link I. to one arm 'I'l of a bell-crank pivotally mounted on a crossshaft ll. The second arm 80 of the bell-crank carries a cam roller 82 which operates in a cam path 84 formed in the closed cam 45. As herein shown. the yieldable connections between the arms 61 and arms III for operating each pair of shutters 24, 28 include coil springs It which bear against collars 80 fixed to the links 88 and a ainst swivelled connections 20 carried by the arms 61. The links 88 are slidingly fitted in the swivelled connections 90 and collars 92 fixed to the links II are arranged to bear against the opposite side of the swivelled connections in order to limit the extension of the springs 88. With this construction, it will be observed that when the arms 81 are rocked in a counterclockwise direction viewing Fig. 1, the springs 86 bearing against the swivelled connections efi'ect opening of the shutters while movement of the arms 61 in the opposite direction will effect a positive closing of the shutters, through engagement of assassc the collars 82 with the swivelled connections It. In accordance with the present invention, provision is made for preventing opening of the gates when there is no container present in the container supporting pockets I2, and as herein shown, detecting fingers Ill, I" mounted upon vertical studs I, I" are arranged to extend into the path, of the containers as they are moved into filling position. when the detecting fingers IIIII, I02 engage a container in the pocket, the studs I, I" are rocked, and such rocking movement is transmitted to vertical shafts I", III! through connections including arms II2, IN, links III, Ill and levers I20, I22. Theupper ends of the vertical shafts Ill, III are provided with latch members I24, I28 and the parts are normally urged by springs I2l, I2'l in a direction such as to engage latch arms I28, I20 forming part of the three-armed levers, above referred to.

From the above descriptio it will be observed that when there are containers present in the pockets I2, the detecting fingers Ill, I02 will be rocked by engagement with the containers bein brought into filling position, and the latch members I24, I28 will be rocked out of the path of the latch arms I28, I20 permitting the shutters 24, 2| to be opened to release the material into the containers It. On the other hand,- in the event that there are no containers present in the container supporting pockets-I2, the latch members will remain in the path of movement of the latch arms I28, I30 to prevent opening of the shutters. When this occurs, the links I slide through the swivelled connections OI, thespring ll being permitted to yield when the cam ll operates to move the links in a shutter opening direction. with this construction, it will also be observed that in the event the carton is absent from one pocket only, the gates associated with such pocket will fail to open, while permitting the companion ates to open to fill the container in the companion pocket.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: Y

1. In apackaging machine, in combination, a plurality of container hplding members for supporting a plurality of containersin operative position to be simultaneously filled, a plurality of filling mechanisms, each including a hopper and a gate associated therewith adapted to be opened to discharge material from the associated hopper into a container supported by a container supporting member, and gate operating mechanism ncluding a movable member common to all of said gates, means for moving said movable member for simultaneously opening allof said gates to fill said containers, control mechanism operatively connected with said gates to prevent an individual gate from opening in the absence of a container from the container holding member associated with said individual gate, and resilient .means individual to each of said gates forming yieldable connections between said movable member and said gates for yieldably transmitting movement of said movable member to said gates for opening said gates to enable said movable member to be moved against the resistance of said resilient means and enable said individual porting member, and gate operating mechanism including a movable member common to all of said gates, means for moving said movable member for simultaneously opening all oi said gates to fill said containers, control mechanism operatively connected with said gates to prevent an individual gate from opening in the absence of a container from the container holding member associated with said individual gate, and resilient means individual to each of said gates forming yieldable connections between said movable member and said gates for yieldably transmitting movement of said movable member to said gates for opening said gates to enable said movable member to be moved against the resistance or said resilient means and enable said individual gate to be held in closed position by said control mechanism, said control mechanism including ieeler members for detecting the presence of containers in said container holding members, latch members for retaining said gates in closed position and connections between said ieeler members and said latch members for removing said latch members to inoperative position when containers are present in said container holding to fill saidcontainers, control mechanism operatively connected with said gates to prevent an individual gate from opening in the absence of a container from the container holding member associated with said individual gate, and compression springs individual to each of said gates forming yielding connections between said movfilling mechanisms, each including a hopper and a gate associated therewith adapted to be open to discharge material from its associated hopper into a container supported by a container supporting member, and gate operating mechanism including a movable member common to all 0! said gates, cam means for moving said movable member for simultaneously opening all of said gates to fill said containers, control mechanism having latch members individual to each of said gates to prevent an individual gate from opening in the absence 01' a container from a container holding member associated with said individual gate. and resilient means individual to each of said gates forming yielding connections between said movable member and said gates for yieldably transmitting movement of said movable member to said gatesjor opening said gates to enable said movable member to be moved against the resistanceoi said resilient means and enable said individual gate to be held in closed position by said control mechanism, said control mechanism also having teeler members for detecting the presence of containers in said container holding members and connections between said ieeler members for 5 moving said latch members to inoperative posi- WILLIAM A. JOPLIN. 

